Get ready for a wonderful gift from our Universe!  Our Sun, Moon and Earth join in the Solstice celebrations this year with a solar eclipse!  Though many of us won’t be able to see it in the sky (it’s directly visible mainly in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa), we can see it online.  This is a “ring of fire” eclipse – annular, not Total.  The eclipse can be watched online, starting at 11:45 pm EDT (Sunday, June 21, so that’s Saturday night), here ! -though the eclipse won’t really show until later, like 1 am.  Remember that the Stonehenge Summer Solstice Sunrise is near the same time, at 11:52 pm – so you can get the magical treat of seeing them both in close succession! Here is the link to the Stonehenge Summer Solstice, online. Remember the time zone difference – the Summer Solstice Sunrise at 3:52 AM GMT, on Sunday June 21 is 11:52 PM *Saturday June 20* for those of us in the Eastern United States time zone.   (Also, it is Winter Solstice/Yule for those in the Southern Hemisphere).  With more are more online experiences available during this (hopefully waning) pandemic, this could be your first online celebration of a Sabbat!

This is also a great opportunity to celebrate the eclipse and Solstice with a ritual, charge objects, etc.  Though the actual light from the eclipse won’t reach most of us, it’s still a special time – and eclipses happening on a Solstice are rare!  Here are eclipse rituals.

Celebrations

The ways that many of us are celebrating were published a few weeks ago.  Some of us may be lucky enough to be celebrating at Stonehenge today, but for those who are not, remember that there are at least hundreds of other stone circles in Europe, and many others on every continent (except Antarctica, of course).   That includes the United States, where they are often known as Medicine Wheels – as well as many recently made circles, like the small stone circle we made in the woods behind our house.  Just a few years ago, I held my Summer Solstice ritual next to the ancient earth circle in central Indiana (which has a Summer Solstice notch).  Three years ago, I made a spiritual pilgrimage to Stonehenge.  Though it was not on the Summer Solstice itself, it was just a couple weeks after the Solstice, and I was deeply moved by watching the Sun rise over the heelstone.

In whatever way you are celebrating, Happy Summer Solstice!

This is an updated version of our annual Summer Solstice post.